APP: Chapter 107

Xie Chi kissed the other person on the lips. He wanted to go to sleep only to be gently kissed back. Xie Chi was caught and his body became stiff. “You aren’t asleep?”

“Wouldn’t I have missed this if I fell asleep?”

Xie Chi, “……”

Xie Xinglan didn’t open his eyes. He just held Xie Chi tighter and said with a smile, “Go to sleep. Tomorrow we will wake up and build an empire.”

***

[This progress is so fast that the single dogs are dumbfounded.]

[Hug, kiss and sleep together. Then they can concentrate on building an empire!]

[Xie Chi, you aren’t reserved at all!]

[Is this… setting up for a lifelong event? I am in a daze. They just met a few hours ago.]

[Smart people pay attention to efficiency.]

[Husbands Xing Chi are open.]

The next morning, Xie Chi finished counting the things copied by Xie Xinglan and spoke to Xie Xinglan who had picked up his sword at the entrance of the cave. “Brother… Brother Xie, you kill me and we will go down to the blood pool together.”

If both sides were willing to cooperate then going down was actually a very simple thing. One party killed the other. The killed person would fall to the next layer and the killer could also take the opportunity to jump down.

Xie Xinglan had killed many people and summed up his experience. After killing, around 70% of the killed person’s energy would fly into the body of the killer. 10% was evaporated from the body and the slain person would retain 20% of the energy when falling to the next layer.

Since energy could be given to each other, it didn’t matter if Xie Xinglan killed Xie Chi and absorbed his energy. Xie Xinglan could distribute the energy to Xie Chi again so that every time Xie Chi died, he actually only lost 10% of his original energy.

If they needed to kill each other then it had to be Xie Xinglan who killed him. First of all, Xie Xinglan was fast and wouldn’t hurt Xie Chi. Second of all, after he fell, Xie Xinglan needed to kill those who wanted to eat him.

Xie Xinglan knew this. He was just about to do it when Xie Chi abruptly stopped him. “Wait.”

“What is it?”

Xie Chi coughed. “I will transfer all my energy to you and then you will kill me.”

Xie Xinglan, “……” How could he be so stingy?

Since Xie Chi would lose 10% of his energy, it was naturally better to have less energy when he died. The two of them negotiated well and Xie Xinglan did it very simply. Xie Chi fell into his arms and Xie Xinglan calmly kissed the cold lips.

[Hahahaha fall in love and then kill your husband.]

[My god, why is this so silly?]

[He actually did this to a corpse!]

[It should be a sad and beautiful scene but I just want to laugh.]

It was early in the morning. The two people in the blood pool hell were still sleeping when they heard a plop. Something had fallen into the huge pool. They were too familiar with this scene. It was food, or a fresh breakfast, being delivered to them.

The two people looked at each other and ran excitedly to the pool. Then they saw the face and were stunned. One of them asked, “How is it him? Can we eat him or not?”

He was a bit hesitant. After all, they had a good talk before.

“Eat him.” The other person replied dismissively. “He must be weak after falling down. Then what are we afraid of? He has so much energy. Do it before he wakes up, uh—”

His chest was abruptly pierced by a sword. He fell down before he could look back to see who did it. Xie Xinglan jumped down and quickly resolved the two of them.

Xie Chi swam ashore and simply wiped the blood drops off his face. The energy distributed to him by Xie Xinglan formed a thin protective layer around his body and the filthy blood of the blood pool hadn’t contaminated him.

This was the blood pool hell. It was a bit like the inside of a volcano. It was surrounded by lava and the surface was very hot. Some places would suddenly let out bursts of small flames but it wasn’t too hot here. At the very least, the climate wouldn’t bring people too much trouble. The blood pool hell was much smaller than the eighth layer of the cold hells. It was like a secret room in martial arts novels. It was only two or three hundred square meters and the surrounding area had unobstructed views. The blood pool was located in the center of the molten cave like a miniature ocean. The blood was turbulent as wave after wave occurred on it.

Xie Chi and Xie Xinglan looked around but found nothing. Then Xie Xinglan stared at the blood pool.

Xie Chi obviously had the same thought as him. “Jump.”

This place was only a certain size and if there was anything here, it would’ve been discovered long ago. If the treasure was still here then it could only be at the bottom of the blood pool.

“Hurry.”

Xie Xinglan nodded. The turbulent sea of blood would erode the energy. Once their energy was exhausted, the blood of unknown origin would cause indelible harm to the human body. This was why the old man wailed bitterly after falling in. It wasn’t that he couldn’t swim. It was that he had too little energy to resist the corrosion of the blood pool.

The two of them jumped down. Xie Chi’s vision became a shocking red. The blood around his body was sticky and the resistance was extremely high when he moved his hands to swim. The blood pool was very deep. Xie Xinglan took him all the way down, swimming for a full two minutes. Yet they still didn’t reach the bottom of the blood pool.

Suddenly, a slippery hand grabbed Xie Chi’s ankle. Xie Xinglan swung his sword and a woman’s screams were faintly heard from the bottom of the pool. Xie Xinglan pulled Xie Chi behind him, splitting the turbid blood with the sword. He saw black hair floating in the blood like seaweed.

“Why are there ghosts?” Xie Chi wondered.

The hair and white body of that thing faintly appeared in the stream of blood. The blood seemed to turn into fire, burning everything around it. This scene was a bit evil.

“I will kill it.”

“Wait—”

The thing slowly raised its head, revealing hollow eyes. It was a female ghost. The female ghost turned her face slightly and looked toward the dark cave hidden behind the torrent. She slowly raised her pale arm and pointed in the direction of the cave.

“She should be a guide.”

Xie Xinglan nodded. They swam again, entering a dark cave and another world.

***

Xie Chi opened his eyes and found himself in an ancient Japanese house. The house was very Zen-like and the yard was full of plants. Bluestone-paved paths led all the way to the house. Looking through the open windows, the interior was covered with mats and the simple walls were covered with Chinese scroll paintings.

It was late at night and the red lanterns hanging from the dark treetops of the yard were glowing with a strange light. Xie Xinglan approached a lantern, only to feel pain in his arm and the blood all over his body started beating abnormally. Xie Chi immediately called out, “It is a lantern ghost!”

Xie Xinglan stepped back. The lantern immediately chased him, an orange-red light swaying in the dark night. Xie Xinglan was slightly angry and solved the lantern ghost with a bit of effort. The lantern hit the ground and the red light gradually dissipated.

“This movie has elements of Japanese ghosts.” Xie Chi told Xie Xinglan as they walked in. “Lantern ghosts are a type of ghost in Japanese legends. They like to chase night walkers, sucking out human blood and bone marrow to use as oil for their lamps.”

Xie Xinglan made a sound of agreement. The kappa, spider silk ladder and lotus pond were all related to Japanese legends. Xie Chi had briefly mentioned them to him before.

The house was filled with paintings. Xie Chi got close to them and realized that all the paintings on the walls were horror paintings. It was just that the style of painting was different from his. The style of this person was strange. There was the haziness of the Chinese traditional women style as well as a strangeness to it. There were many women in the paintings. Xie Chi scanned all of it and saw a long-necked Rokurokubi. The Rokurokubi was a snake yokai with a long neck that could stretch infinitely. There were also Japanese style mermaids and fox yokai…

“Ah—!”

The two men were walking toward the entrance when they heard a woman scream.

The house with closed doors suddenly caught on fire. It was a dry autumn and an autumn wind was blowing. A fire suddenly occurred and it went out of control in the blink of an eye. The screams were coming from inside the house.

Xie Xinglan moved quickly. He rushed forward and kicked open the door. The door was opened and the scene inside revealed.

A young woman in a kimono was engrossed in painting in the roaring fire. The fire had burned her hair but she didn’t realize it. She even spoke intoxicated nonsense. “It is so beautiful, so beautiful. Burn, burn, rise up, yes, rise up! Up! This is so beautiful. I can definitely draw a masterpiece that everyone admires, definitely…”

She stretched out her left hand and watched as the scarlet tongues of fire swept over the long sleeves. They first burned her clothes and then her left hand. The moisture in her left arm was gradually decreasing. In the blink of an eye, her fingertips were already black and scorched but she didn’t seem to feel the pain. Her right hand holding the brush drew quickly on the paper.

The woman spotted the intruders and turned her head abruptly, shouting at them. “Don’t come here and bother me when I’m drawing my masterpiece! Otherwise I will let the Rokurokubi eat you!”

At her order, two long snakes emerged near the threshold. They were long and white as they lay across the threshold, blocking the two people’s path. Xie Xinglan’s face was indifferent.

Xie Chi also spoke indifferently. “She is crazy.”

They coldly watched the woman burn herself to death. The crackling of the wood was endless and the entire Zen house burned down. Even the paintings drawn by the woman accompanied her to hell.

They stood in a roofless courtyard. The snakes at the threshold were gone and a painting lay quietly in the ruins, not stained with dirt. Xie Chi picked it up.

The painting was of a woman in a mature and luxurious kimono. Her hair was up and she was drawing on paper with a brush. She was smiling, her smile mysterious and strange. Her long hair was on fire and her entire profile was hidden in the flames. Her left hand was completely burnt.

Xie Xinglan frowned. “Is this the second painting?”

The woman in the painting was the one who previously led them through the blood pool.

Xie Chi was thoughtful. “What we just saw should be an illusion. The woman burned herself a long time ago and everything just now was a retrospective appearance.”

Xie Xinglan’s eyes swept over the painting and he made a guess when he remembered the woman’s abnormal words. “The painter burned herself to death for an unrealistic pursuit?”

Xie Chi and Xie Xinglan slowly walked back.

Xie Xinglan frowned. “What is this trying to say? Wait—is death equal to going to hell?”

Xie Xinglan suddenly questioned it.

Xie Chi answered, “We found her bones in the blood pool hell so she did enter hell after death. She took the initiative to drive herself to hell for an unrealistic pursuit, suffering the torture of eternal life…”

Xie Chi’s figure stopped suddenly. Xie Xinglan also realized that something was wrong.

Xie Chi suddenly looked up. “What is the pursuit of all of us here?”

“The world of Paradise.”

The expressions of the two men changed slightly. Was the Paradise they sought also an unrealistic fantasy?

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Proofreader: Purichan